Cyanide box



March 18 ,1924. r 1,487,236

F. F. HARRIS CYANDE BOX Filed Dec. 23, 192i? EEE-L...

.PAE

orries.

PABLEY EN HARRIS, 0.7i' NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE.

CYMEDE BOX.

Application tiled December 2S, 1922. Serial No. BO,tBt5.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, paniers grumman Hmmm, a citizen of the United States, nresiding at Nashville, in the county of Davidson and State of Tennessee, have invented certain' new and useful 'improvements in Cyanide Boxes; andv I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact -description et the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which. it appertains to make and use the same.

rl.`his invention relates to cyanide boxes, especially adapted for cyaniding variousarticles such as household furniture, bedding, tobacco, nuts, such as chestnuts, etc., and has for its object to provide an apparatus which will vbe simple in construction, comparatively inexpensive to manufacture, and more eliicient in use than those which have been heretofore proposed.

With these and other objects in View the invention consists in thev novel details of construction and combinations of parts more fully hereinafter disclosed and particularly pointed out in the claims.

leferring to the accompanying drawin forming a part of this specification, 1n

which like numerals designate like parts in all the views,-

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic partially sectional view of an enclosure made in accordance with this invention; and

vFigure 2 is a sectional view of a means of introducing the cyanide solution into the enclosure.

e 1 indicates any suitable enclosure but! preferably made of Wood, and of about the dimensions .of an ordinary sized room, although ofcourse, this chamber or box may be made of any dimensions desired. 24indi- Cates a door giving convenient access to the chamber l, 3 indicates a vent for the exit of the cyanide vapors that may be left in the chamber 1, 4 a valve for the vent 3,

Y which is conveniently operated from the outside, as indicated bynthe handle 5, 6 any suitable platform or other means leading up to the door 2. 7 indicates a door for the chamber 1, which may be of a lattice or other perforated construction, 8 a, steam coil or any other suitable heatin 1 means located below the floor 7 and ada )ted to raise the chamber 1, to any desired de ree of tern erature. Ordinarily this tempenature wou d be around about 100 to 1\0 or 150 F. 9 represents the bottom oi Atheborner Walls of the chamber.

' which chamber 1, and 10 represents any suitable Wheelswor other means for moving the said chamber from place to place. course, it this chamber is made of substantial dimensions and is to be used in one placeonly, the `Wheels could be dispensed with. 11 indicates a pipe for the admission of air under pressure into the compartment 13 below the perforated floor 7 and through the per forat-ions in the floor 'l' to the chamber 1, while 14 represents a fan of any suitable construction for sending air under agite' or less pressure throu h the pipe 11. 15 and 16 represent suita le openingsin the side of the box like structure 1, through which slide the members .17 and 18 adapted to make an air tight fit as at 19, with the 20 represents suitn cyanide solution, are supported by the said members 17 and 1.8.

All ot the parts are made air tight, so that when the cyanide gas is once liberated in the chamber 1, it may be held in it indefinitely. 1 The operation of this device is as fol- When bedding, furniture, or other articles are to be cyanided, or insects associated therewith destroyed, they are introduced into the chamber 1. The said chamber is now closed airtight, and heated up above the outside atmosphere, as by joining the steam coil 8 to any suitable steam supply. This temperature is preferably between l00 F. and 120 F'. but may be higher or lower to suit the articles being fumigated. The purpose of thus and articles will be appreciated When it is said Hydrocyanic gas HCN is, as is Well known, a violent poison, yet, it is not very efficient at temperatures below F. for it then condenses into'7 the liquid form. Its efliciency as a destroyer of insect life and germs I have found to rapidly increase as the temperature is raised, and l have further found that much oit its inefficiency in practical fumigation is due to the fact that the cold Walls of the fumigated room, ship, etc., serve to so cool the gas in contact therewith that insects and germs located in cracks and crevices are not killed at all, when they would be readily killed if said walls were artificially heated before the fumigation was started. The chamber and contained ab ticles having been thus heated to a suitable able containers for the heating said chamber temperature, the cyanide solution is made u in the containers 20 outside of the said cganiber. A convenient way of producing the cyanide solution is to place a dilute sow lution of sulphuric acid in the containers20 and introduce the'solid cyanide into the containers while the latter are on the outsideA of the chamber l. To this end, the slides 17 and 18 are drawn out of the chamber, and the containers 20 being supported thereon the solid hydrocyanic acid is introduced into said containers and weak solution of sul huric acid and the slides quickly pushed` ack into said chamber. This enables oneto prepare the cyanide solution on the outside of the chamber, and avoids the necessity of a person entering the chamber in order toy place the cyanide solution therein, .as has been customary heretofore. The `slides 17 and 18 being `va ors II vam enabled to accomplish three things. In the first place, l more eifectually kill any insects and their eggs that are in the articles occupying chamber 1; in the second place I am enabled to use a less quantity of cyanide because the gas is more eliicient; and in the' third place, I am less liable to damage the articles being treated, because I use a less quantity of cyanide for the same purpose thanhas been heretofore used. Therefore, it is an important feature of this invention that the fumigation is carried out' at a temperature higher than that of the temperature outside] A further important feature of this invention resides in the fact that the cyanide, solutions may be prepared outside of the chamber 1, by unskil ed persons in the open 'air where there is little danger involved, and then introduced into said chamber, and the whole made air tight without the necessity of a person entering the said chamber 1. In other Words,as the poisonous character of cyanide vapors is well recognized it is obvious that it an unskilled person has to enter a chamber such as 1, after it has been used in order to introduce new charges of cyanide, there is always more or less danger of his stumbling and other accidents happening due to his fear of the poison, and experience shows this to be a real danger,

ln this invention, on'the other hand, the operator whether skilled or not, need never thus closed, and the cyanide solution' resting in the containers 20l on the Lacasse enter the cyanidng chamber in order "to'v place the cyanide therein, for the solutions 1n the containers 20 are slid into position thrmigh4 thesliiling doors 17 and 18 as 'above indicated. V 70 After thoair tight chamber has been thus heated u andv the cyanide vapors evolved, the cham er or box is held tightly closed for a period of time suicient to kill all of the insect life that may exist therein. This time will vary according to the articlesA being treated. It may be anywhere from a fewl hours to several hours or a day. The ex.

erienced operator readily judges about how ong the articles should be kept under treatment. Another important feature of theinu vention resides in the fact that during this' cyaniding treatment, the vapors beingunde'r an, appreciable pressure, and at a temperature" Ahigher than thenormal, it penetrates every crevice and'allthe'interstices of the articles being treated so that it is sure to reach every vestige of insect life, This result isin marked contrastato the ordinary process of fumigatiner houses, buildings, etc., 90 wherein there is always present more or less j leaks through which air may be obtained by the insect life, and therefore, in the .treat ment of such houses, the results are always far less satisfactory than with my method as has been proved time and again.

That is to say, -in my apparatus, there is no chance for a single insect to escape, and a vast experience has shown that articles that are treated inthe manner above disclosed are'absolutely free of allfvermin and other insects after the treatment has been completed.-

The allotted time for treatment having expired, the valve 4 is opened, and the fan 14 is set in motion, whereupon a stream or" air flows through the entire' apparatus and sweeps over the articles treated; This air carries the cyanide vapors out of the top of the apparatusand' disperses them into the nis llO

atmosphere, while at the saine time filling the chamber 1 with fresh air from the outside. Experience shows that after this treatment the apparatus being air tight all ap- J preciable traces vof the cyanide vapors are V carried out of the apparatus, and it is lperfectly safe for the operatorto enter the same at once to remove the articles that were cyanided.

lt is obvious that those skilled inthe art may vary the details of construction as well as the procedure of operationfabovc outlined, without departing from the spirit of the invention, and'therefore, I do not Wish to be limited to the aboveA disclosure except as may be required by the claims. l What I claim is z- 1. In an apparatus for treating articles with hydrocyanic acid gas, the combination of an air tiffht enclosure; a vent forV said enl closure; a valve controlling said vent; a supvof said enclosure; and means for blowing fresh air through said enclosure after the cyaniding operation has been completed.

2. In an apparatus for treating articles with hydrocyanic acid gas, the combination of an air tight enclosure: a vent for said enclosure; a valve controlling 'said vent; a support comprising a perforated floor for sald farticles in said chamber; an air tight door for entering said enclosure; air tight means comprising a movable door for introducing a cyanide solution from the outside into said enclosure; heating means for raising the temperature of said enclosure above that of the outside atmosphere; and means for blowing fresh air through said enclosure after the cyaniding operation has been completed.

3. In an apparatus for treating articles with hydrocyanic acid gas, the combination of an air tight enclosure; a.` vent for said enclosure; a valve controlling said vent; a

supporJ comprising a perforated ooror said articles in said chamber; an air tight door for entering said enclosure; air tight means comprising a slidable door for introducing a cyanide solution from the outside into said enclosure; means for supporting said slidable door; heating means comprising a steam coil for raising the temperature ofsaid enclosure; and means comprising a fan for blowing fresh air through said enclosure after the cyanding operation has been completed.

In testimony whereof I afin; my signature.

PARLEY FREEMAN HARRIS. 

